An AUTUMNAL ODE. Francis Fawkes Alexander Huber Editor Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Broad Street Oxford OX1 3BG UK
Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive
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Oxford This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. T131163 K104099.004 Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. IV. London printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley 1763 [1st ed. 1758] pp. 273-274. 6v.: music; 8⁰.

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An AUTUMNAL ODE . By the Same . I. YET once more , glorious God of day , While beams thine orb serene , O let me warbling court thy stay To gild the fading scene ! Thy rays invigorate the Spring , Bright Summer to perfection bring , The cold , inclement days of Winter cheer , And make th' Autumnal months the mildest of the year . II . Ere yet the russet foliage fall , I'll climb the mountain's brow , My friend , my Hayman , at thy call , To view the scene below : How sweetly pleasing to behold Forests of vegetable gold ! How mix'd the many-chequer'd shades between The tawny mellowing hue , and the gay vivid green ! III . How splendid all the sky ! how still ! How mild the dying gale ! How soft the whispers of the rill That winds along the dale ! So tranquil Nature's works appear , It seems the Sabbath of the year ; As if , the Summer's Labour past , she chose This season's sober calm for blandishing repose . IV . Such is of well-spent life the time , When busy days are past , Man verging gradual from his prime , Meets sacred Peace at last : His flowery Spring of pleasures o'er , And Summer's full-blown pride no more , He gains pacific Autumn , meek and bland , And dauntless braves the stroke of Winter's palsy'd hand . V. For yet awhile , a little while , Involv'd in wint'ry gloom , And lo ! another Spring shall smile , A Spring eternal bloom ; Then shall he shine , a glorious guest , In the bright mansions of the blest , Where due rewards on Virtue are bestow'd , And reap the golden fruits of what his Autumn sow'd .